Why I Ditched 90% of the Law of Attraction (And Found Something Way Deeper)
I once had a powerful realization about the Law of Attraction (LOA) while listening to a podcast by Michael A. Singer.
Michael, a successful entrepreneur and spiritual teacher, sold his company for millions and has been teaching spirituality throughout his career. He’s someone who seems to have mastered both the inner and outer worlds, which made his perspective on the Law of Attraction deeply convincing to me.
If you’re not familiar with LOA, it’s a concept that suggests you can manifest an ideal future effortlessly—without having to work your ass off.
Instead of grinding away day after day to achieve your goals, the idea is that you can manifest your desires by aligning your thoughts and emotions with them.
For example, if you desire $200,000, rather than working 12-hour days, seven days a week, the universe might bring it to you in unexpected ways—like someone passing away and leaving you an inheritance because of your kindness.
The theory is that by clearly visualizing your desire and feeling positive emotions about it, you send a powerful signal to the universe to rearrange events and atoms accordingly. Essentially, those who are abundant within will attract wealth and success, while those who are poor within stay hungry.
The process is relatively simple:
Visualize an ideal future where your desire has already been fulfilled. Make the vision as vivid and specific as possible.
Feel good about that future. Feel gratitude as if your desire has already manifested. You might say, “Thank you, God, for this gift,” and genuinely feel that sense of gratitude.
Now, I’m not saying LOA doesn’t work. In fact, I’ve experienced its success firsthand—but the way it happened wasn’t intentional.
A while ago, I mentioned to my wife how beautiful a jade statue at a local temple was. I told her I would love to see it again, but that statue wasn’t open to the public. The last time we went, we were able to see the statue because we went with my dad to visit the head monk and my dad has a good relationship with him.
The next morning, my wife and I went to the temple by ourselves. We didn’t plan to visit the head monk, but we just happened to run into him, who was hosting guests and invited us to join them in seeing the statue.
I wasn’t expecting to see the statue because my dad didn’t go with us—but it did happen.
The night before, I had imagined the statue in my mind and felt good about it. Was it coincidence, or was it LOA in action? Who knows? But it certainly made me think twice.
The Present-Oriented vs. Future-Oriented Happiness
So what changed my view about LOA in Michael A. Singer’s argument?
He pointed out that while the Law of Attraction can manifest your desires to a certain extent, there’s a hidden trap. The trap is that it conditions your happiness on a future outcome.
In essence, LOA teaches that happiness lies somewhere in the future—when your desires come true. Happiness isn’t available right now; it’s always tied to something that needs to happen in the future.
Your ability to feel happy hinges entirely on whether the future matches your current desires.
This got me thinking. There are two fundamentally different approaches to happiness:
Present-happiness oriented: This approach suggests that all the joy you need is already within you. You are uncovering it, much like removing the clouds that block the sun. This is what spiritual teachings like Zen, A Course in Miracles, and mindfulness all point to.
Future-happiness oriented: This approach says that you don’t have the necessary conditions to be happy in the present, so you must create an ideal future that matches your desires to feel happy. LOA belongs here—it’s all about imagining a future where your desires are fulfilled, then waiting for the universe to make it happen. It’s not that different from some self-help techniques, like changing your state, reframing your belief system, and taking massive action to create success—the only difference is that LOA adds a mystical flavor.
While there’s nothing wrong with creating a better future, the problem arises when you place all your happiness in the future. You begin to believe that only once you achieve certain goals—financial success, an ideal relationship, or a perfect life—will you be happy.
LOA, at its core, is a tool to help you manifest a better future for yourself. But the issue is that it keeps your happiness tied to an idealized future that may never come.
The Four Big Flaws of LOA
LOA has four major flaws—two from its mystical nature and two from its focus on future-oriented happiness.
1. LOA doesn’t always work — and when it doesn’t, it feels like rejection from the Divine
LOA doesn’t always work. And when it doesn’t, you might feel as though the universe has rejected you. But the reality is that the universe has its own rhythm and timing. Not everything is under your control.
Even Jerry Hicks, the husband of Esther Hicks — one of the earliest and most influential teachers of LOA — passed away from cancer despite all his knowledge and practice of manifestation. If everything could truly be manifested, why not manifest a healthy body free of cancer?
Human life is still governed by larger universal laws: impermanence, cause and effect, and the mystery of existence.
The universe isn’t a vending machine that dispenses whatever you visualize; it’s a living, intelligent flow that moves in ways far beyond our understanding.
2. The anxious waiting for manifestation
As Joe Dispenza, a well-known teacher on manifestation, points out, you can’t predict when your desires will manifest—so don’t attach a timeline to your dreams.
It’s easy to understand but hard to live by. When your happiness depends on an uncertain timeline, anxiety and impatience naturally arise. You stop feeling happy in the present moment—the only reality that truly exists.
3. When it works, it may not last
Even if LOA works and you manifest your desire, the happiness often fades. You might manifest an ideal relationship, but after some time, you start noticing flaws. The joy you initially felt begins to dissolve.
4. Even if it lasts, new desires appear
The moment you achieve one desire, another one pops up. You’re constantly chasing the next big thing without ever being satisfied with the present moment.
Ironically, if LOA does work, it might plant the seed of future suffering—because you start craving even more.
The 10% of LOA I Keep
Despite its flaws, there’s one aspect of LOA that I still believe in: it encourages you to feel good right now, regardless of your circumstances.
LOA says to feel good now because it will attract an ideal future. But here’s the twist: feel good right now without attaching any conditions to it.
I give myself permission to feel good now—not because I expect some future outcome, but because feeling good in the present moment is its own reward.
It’s like that old song: Don’t Worry, Be Happy.
More importantly, feeling good now without attaching conditions is my birthright—my natural ability. I just forget that it is so.
It’s like having a Rolls-Royce hidden under a thick layer of dust in your backyard. The car is already there — you just don’t see it yet. Every time you practice feeling good without conditions, you’re wiping away the dust and revealing what has been there all along.
Present-Oriented Happiness: A Paradigm Shift
Here’s the fundamental truth: You should give yourself permission to feel good now, for absolutely no reason at all. Why? Because it’s your nature.
This is the paradigm shift:
You are not feeling good now to attract an ideal future, nor are you tricking your mind with psychological techniques for relief—you are uncovering the complete happiness already within you but long forgotten.
This isn’t about positive psychology—it’s something deeper.
It’s about faith.
Faith in the belief that complete happiness is already within you, just like the Rolls-Royce or the sun behind the clouds. Right now, nothing has to change for you to feel good.
You might ask, “But what about the future? Don’t I need a specific outcome to be happy?” That belief, too, is a kind of faith.
How many times have you achieved something you thought would make you happy—only to find the satisfaction didn’t last? Has future-oriented happiness ever given you lasting peace?
The Treasure Within
Present-oriented happiness isn’t new. In Buddhism, it’s called Buddha nature—the belief that all beings have an inherent capacity for enlightenment and joy.
The Buddha is the awakened human, one who has realized this truth.
This idea is echoed in Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist, where Santiago searches for a treasure far away, only to discover it buried beneath the sycamore tree at his own home—the very place where his journey began.
His story reminds us that happiness and fulfillment aren’t found in some distant future, but within our own hearts, waiting to be uncovered.
How to Feel Good Now
Every time you give yourself permission to feel good now, you reconnect with your intrinsic well-being. The more you connect with it, the more happiness naturally surfaces.
It’s like cleaning the dust off the Rolls-Royce or letting the sun shine through the clouds.
Over time, it dawns on you that this intrinsic well-being has belonged to you all along.
It’s like tending a garden—the seeds are already there, but you need to water them by giving yourself permission to feel good now, for no reason.
Since the happiness you seek is already in you, it doesn’t matter which technique you use, as long as it helps you feel good now and you remember your intrinsic happiness.
Here are a few techniques to get started. Use them to generate good feelings, and then focus on those feelings in your body — just as you would focus on your breath in meditation. If your attention wanders, gently bring it back. If the good feelings fade, simply use the same technique or try another one to regenerate the feeling.
Imagine an ideal future—not to manifest it, but to feel positive emotions now.
Hold a role model in your mind, someone you admire. Your admiration is a sign that those same qualities are already in you.
Smile, even slightly. The body teaches the mind. It doesn’t have to be a big, authentic smile—just smile and focus on the subtle good feeling it brings.
Recall a good memory—perhaps a beautiful sunset, a first kiss, or when your child was born.
Focus on something that awakens love—a family photo, a flower, or a favorite piece of music.
Move your body — jog, stretch, or dance. Physical movement loosens emotional knots and helps good feelings arise.
Meditate—allow stillness to reveal the joy of ease beneath your thoughts.
Some Final Happy Thoughts
When you stop attaching your happiness to the future, you reclaim immense freedom.
You stop living as a beggar for joy and start living as the source of it.
Ironically, this is when life begins to flow more smoothly, and the outer world often rearranges itself to reflect your inner state. But by then, it won’t matter—you were already whole.
And here’s a key insight that makes LOA actually work better: you must become neutral about whether your desire manifests or not.
If it happens—good. If it doesn’t—good too.
Remember my jade statue story? I was completely non-attached to whether I could see it the next day. And it just happened.
So what could be a better deal than this understanding:
I feel good now to uncover my intrinsic, complete well-being.
Imagining an ideal future is just one of the techniques I use.
My non-attached joy may even help that ideal future unfold.
If it happens, I savor it, knowing the joy is simply my inner well-being shining through.
If it doesn’t, I’m still happy, because happiness lies within—and I know how to reconnect with it.
This journey is about uncovering the treasure within. You don’t need to search for it in some distant future—it’s here, waiting to be revealed.
By adopting a present-oriented approach to happiness, you unlock a freedom that most people spend their lives seeking.
Remember, it doesn’t matter whether the future aligns with your desires or not—you are already at peace, and that peace is the life you’ve been seeking all along.
Now I want to hear from you
What do you think about the Law of Attraction? Have you ever tried using it? And how do you view future-oriented happiness versus present-oriented happiness?
You’ve articulated what ancient wisdom teaches: peace isn’t found in manifested desires but in recognizing the completeness already present. The shift from future-oriented striving to present-moment awareness isn’t passive—it’s profoundly liberating.
Your insight about LOA’s hidden trap resonates deeply. Conditioning happiness on future outcomes creates chronic tension, even when practiced “correctly.” The Buddha nature, the treasure buried at home, the Rolls-Royce under dust—these aren’t metaphors for something we lack. They’re pointing to what’s always been here.
What touches me most about your article is how you honor both the struggle and the possibility. Many people hear “happiness is within” and feel it dismisses their real pain. If you’ve experienced trauma, chronic illness, or overwhelming stress, being told to “just feel good now” can feel impossible—even invalidating.
Here’s what I’ve learned: you don’t have to deny your suffering to access your wholeness. They can coexist.
Your practical techniques—smiling, moving, recalling good memories—aren’t about pretending everything’s fine. They’re about gently training your nervous system to recognize that even in difficulty, small moments of ease still exist. The warmth of sunlight. A kind word. The relief between pain waves.
This is the practice: notice you’re suffering and notice you’re still here, still breathing, still aware. That awareness—the part of you observing all of this—is already peaceful. It doesn’t need anything to manifest. It’s just… present.
For those who feel they can’t access this inner peace, here’s the paradox: the one noticing “I can’t feel it” is already that peaceful awareness. You’re not broken. You’re not doing it wrong. The witness is already there, patiently holding everything you’re experiencing.
Your reframing of LOA is crucial: we’re not creating future happiness through visualization. We’re uncovering the completeness that’s been here all along, waiting beneath the dust.
Thank you for writing this with such clarity and heart.
I agree with every sentence in this! Thank you Muso - very well written!